


As Good As

by Lookingkindofdumb



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Because I loved the snark, M/M, Nicaise lives AU, Warning for Laurent and Nicaise's tongues which are sharper than any sword, canon warnings apply
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-26
Updated: 2016-04-26
Packaged: 2018-06-04 15:36:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6664378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lookingkindofdumb/pseuds/Lookingkindofdumb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"He told me, no matter how hard I tried, I was never as good as you."</p><p>"He lied a lot, you know." Laurent said, breaking the awful, thick silence.</p><p>AU where Nicaise lives and grows up. Unfortunately growing up is the last thing Nicaise wants to do.</p>
            </blockquote>





	As Good As

**Author's Note:**

> Canon warnings apply.
> 
> Child sexual abuse, not explicit, but dealing with the aftermath. Well, really dealing with the instability that was Nicaise's position at court and how it all relied upon him staying in the Regent's good graces.
> 
> I watched an episode of Jessica Jones and this line just killed me. "He told me I was never as good as you." Ouch. Which is what the abuser says to his 'replacement' Jessica.

"Entertain me." Nicaise demanded, leaning back in his chair with grace that was just a shade less entitled than his tone. The ambassador from Vask choked. Laurent merely raised a cool eyebrow and took a single sip from his goblet. Water, of course.

"Entertain you." Laurent repeated, he lazily observed Nicaise with the indolence of a cat, sated by the fire but ready to pounce.

"I am bored. This dinner is boring." Nicaise announced.

Damen hid his mouth with his own goblet; filled with a rich red wine, spiced and warmed over the fire. Nikandros scowled from his seat at Damen's left, he didn't like the way Nicaise comported himself or the way Laurent indulged him. Nikandros did not like to see his king ordered about by a scrap of a boy with no royal blood, not even noble blood, kept only at court because the King of Vere had a fondness for him. Possibly Laurent's fondness for Nicaise was also a factor in Nikandros' dislike.

"Is that so?" Laurent asked mildly. "Well, I'm sure you have a suggestion to liven it up." Laurent waited. Nicaise's eyes swept the hall before fixing upon Laurent's face.

"There is enough space for an arena." Nicaise suggested slyly. "I'm sure one or two pets wouldn't mind putting on a display-"

"No." Damen interrupted firmly when he realised what Nicaise was getting at. He would not have a display of wrestling where the winner raped the other contestant just to titillate the viewers. The idea sickened Damen. Less than half the courtiers here were Veretian; most would be scandalised by such an act.

Nicaise leaned back in his seat, a gleam of triumph in his eyes. Damen closed his eyes briefly when he realised his reaction had played right into the boys hands, that he had only suggested it for that very reaction.

"I only meant a dance." Said Nicaise, all innocence, his stunning blue eyes wide. "What did you think I was talking about?" 

Damen glanced around at the various members of the court at Patras, to see if anyone was paying their conversation attention. Being a court much like Akielos, and without the subtlety Vere courtiers often displayed when seeking information, it was not hard to spot the poorly disguised eavesdroppers. Had he known this endeavour would be an exercise in pretending not to notice the intense scrutiny he and Laurent were under then he might have reconsidered the invitation.

"If you want to watch a dance you will have to find a dancer." Damen eventually said, hoping that that would be the end of the matter. Of course, this being Nicaise, he only gave up ground where it was to his advantage.

"Maybe after desert." Nicaise returned, losing interest in favour of the milky sweet, heavily spiced pudding served that had definite roots from the Vaskian empire and was probably presented as a small flattery to the ambassadors from Vask. There had been four courses and with each one Damen could see the influences from the surrounding kingdoms. He had particularly enjoyed the meat and rice combination wrapped in fragrant fig leaves.

Damen took a spoonful of the creamy dish and watched its movements for a moment.

"You will like it." Laurent leaned over and breathed into his ear. Damen put the spoon into his mouth and found to his surprise that contrary to his expectations it was in fact highly pleasing to the taste, light, cool and a perfect accompaniment to the balmy evening heat. It reminded him a little of -

"Think of the drink offered by-"

"Yes, I can taste the likeness." Damen interrupted before Laurent could finish. It did indeed somewhat remind him of the flavours of the drink served by the coupling fire that he had sampled in Vask and that roused the drinker despite the alcohol. Laurent leaned back in his seat, amused satisfaction radiating from him despite the cool mask that habited his face.

"Do you like it?" Damen assumed the question was for him but as he turned he saw the Vaskian ambassador, a round faced woman with strong arms, directing the question to Nicaise whose plate was empty.

"It was tolerable." Nicaise sniffed, daintily setting down his cutlery. Damen made a mental note to ask one of the cooks in his retinue to recreate the dish. It was clear the ambassador, Selik, was unclear how to respond to the haughty airs from a child.

"Would you like to finish mine?" Laurent enquired, offering his own desert which was untouched as far as Damen could see.

"The scraps from your plate?" It was evident from the scorn in his voice how much the idea offended Nicaise. Laurent shrugged, a neat economical motion that drew Damen's eye. Everything Laurent did caught at Damen's attention, it would be worrying but he let Nikandros do that for him.

"Very well." Laurent said, eating a mouthful with evident relish. Nicaise watched him warily for a few moments before turning away and leaving the table. Damen made sure all the cutlery was in its place and he hadn't made off with a dangerous weapon like a fork, it was all accounted for. Unfortunately the sword Nicaise usually wielded was still on his person; his tongue was shaping up to be nearly as fatal as Laurent's.

It wasn't long before a pet that Damen vaguely recognised for his sandy blond hair accompanied by another with brown hair, organised a small area of space to be clear of people. Damen felt a sinking feeling in his gut as the two pets shrugged off their small tunics and rubbed each other over with oils.

Patras was similar to Akielos in many respects, especially in culture, and acts of the bedroom were private dealings, not a spectacle for the court. He made to rise but a light touch to his forearm brought him to a halt.

"Wait." Laurent said, taking a sip from his ornately carved goblet, the silver of the gilt gleaming off his hair, turned almost the same shade by the fading light. Laurent's face was calm, though his eyes were watchful, but that didn't tell Damen much. Laurent had been the very image of cool superiority during many of his verbal jousts with his uncle, that while bloodless, nonetheless left you gutted on the floor.

"He will destroy all the good will we have managed to accumulate." Damen argued, rooted in spot by the single finger tapping idly on his wrist.

"You think so?" 

Damen returned Laurent's amused stare steadily.

"We can't afford to alienate Patras." He said simply.

"Thank you for the lecture on the basics of diplomacy, apparently a refresher course was all I needed." The tone was honeyed and all the more stinging for its sweetness. Languid blue eyes looked at him for a moment before flitting away to where the two pets had already begun.

Damen settled back in his seat, he was too late to stop the oncoming disaster. He couldn't fathom the reasons why Laurent might want this to happen, Laurent had been the one working tirelessly for greater relations between Patras, Vask, Vere and Akielos. Laurent had been the one most eager to accept the invitation from King Torgeir that was not so subtly a request from Torveld. It was all of Laurent's plans that would falter should they offend the Patran sensibilities. 

The two pets wrestled, the oils making handholds a slippery friend at best, neither gaining the upper hand for a long few moments where Damen could feel the tension inch higher in his chest. 

Finally, the blond pet triumphed, holding the other down below him, using his body weight to prevent any reprisal. Damen couldn't bear to watch but he couldn't look away.

Nicaise slipped back into his seat with all the grace of a dancer. Of course. 

The blond kicked his opponents feet apart and Damen closed his eyes. The applause from the crowd was unexpected enough that he opened them again, half expected to hear appalled gasps next. But it wasn't so. The two pets were standing in the space, giving a small bow each before oiling each other up again and taking up some sticks of fire as two female pets appeared, dressed in snippets of gauzy fabric that looked even more insubstantial in the torch light.

Damen turned to see Laurent, just as eternally unsurprised as ever, seated with one knee bent and his wrist lounging on his arm rest, the glint of gold from his cuff hidden by the tightly laced strings of his shirt.

The fire dance started, with the two male pets wielding the flames while the two female pets doing feats of acrobatics that had the courtiers gasping and clapping in turn.

"You planned this!" Nicaise's voice, still high and fluting and that of a child, carried probably further than he intended. Nicaise had intended to shock and disgust the courtiers but had found himself sweetly outmanoeuvred, like many before him, by Laurent's devious mind. Now Damen realised why he had recognised the blond pet somewhat, he had seen Laurent in conversation with him the other day during a ride, notable because Laurent did not show interest in pets nor flatter them with his company.

"You tricked me." Nicaise said, again echoing a previous exchange, Damen felt the words of another evening overlap that of tonight's. 

_-'You had a choice, you didn't have to show me your claws... You're learning. It won't be as easy to do next time.'_

_'I promise you, it won't.'-_

"I didn't force you to try and ruin the product of three months diplomacy." Laurent returned, coolly. 

Nicaise descended into sullen faced silence and retired to his rooms as soon as was acceptable.

Laurent didn't linger long over the after dinner chatter, it would have been a good time to shore up support from the courtiers, but there was an impatience to the straight set of Laurent's shoulders, a desire to remove himself from the room.

Damen followed after as Laurent excused them, the night would soon wind down anyway and some proper rest after their travels would do some good.

Nikandros cornered Damen just out of the hall.

"If you or another lad had been that disrespectful during a diplomatic dinner, your father would have had them whipped." Nikandros remarked quietly.

"I know." Damen responded.

"Nicaise cannot continue to speak like that, not in front of foreign diplomats. It makes you seem-" Nikandros bit back whatever he was about to say. "People whisper, if you can't control one child then what of a kingdom?"

"I know." Damen said again.

"Why not see him fostered? Any Kyros would be pleased to serve you by taking on a fosterling you hold in regard." Nikandros suggested. "And he might learn better manners."

"Laurent wishes to keep him close." 

"Perhaps the King of Vere is not as objective as might be beneficial." Nikandros said delicately.

"Perhaps." Damen agreed but he didn't feel sending Nicaise away to a noble family would help matters. Nicaise would eat them alive.

He made his way through the high ceiling halls to the rooms that had been allocated as his for the length of their stay. He passed the door to his own room and entered the next one down which was decorated somewhat differently to his own, with added tapestries adorning the walls.

The candlelight flickered at the displaced air from his entrance, shadows draping themselves lovingly over the planes of Laurent's fine boned face where he stood, looking out into the gardens. Damen sat at the bed and leaned down to unlace his sandals. Once divested of his clothes he walked over to the window and gently unlaced Laurent's over shirt. He preferred to do the chore himself rather than watch a servant whose hands weren't his own.

"You are cross." Laurent remarked, not looking away from the clear glass. Damen considered that as he pulled free the laces, letting the opening of the shirt at Laurent's chest gradually widen.

"Not cross." Damen said evenly, moving to undo the ties of each sleeve in turn.

"Ah, I see, disapproving then." Laurent finally turned and looked at him, eyes dark in the shadows and face inscrutable. Damen shrugged and sighed.

"He is fourteen and you manipulated him." He eventually said. 

"Yes." Laurent agreed, apparently waiting for more.

"Is that the best way to get him to learn to stop acting out?" Damen asked.

"Yes." Laurent answered, still sounding a little baffled by the direction the talk was going. Damen waited. "Nicaise is pushing every boundary he can, to see what will happen. He spent three years navigating and manipulating my uncle behind closed doors and now that that surety of course has gone, that safety net, he wants to find out the new lines that he should not cross. That is what tonight was, he was pushing and I showed him where the line was." Laurent explained.

Not for the first time Damen was aware of the fundamental contrast between him and Laurent, it was as though, sometimes, they were two completely different species of animal, talking in two very different languages.

"Nikandros suggested fostering him with one of the Kyros." Damen said.

"It wouldn't work." Laurent dismissed.

"No, and manipulating him like your uncle did you is working so much better." The words slipped out despite himself and instantly Damen regretted them. Laurent reared back, face white, as though from a blow. Wary in a way that Damen hadn't seen since he was slave trussed for Laurent's pleasure.

"I shouldn't have said that." Damen admitted, aching to close the distance between them that spanned endlessly despite the fact Laurent was only just out of reach. Laurent stepped further back though Damen made no moves to advance.

"Worse has been said of me." Laurent said dismissively, voice even.

"That doesn't change the fact I shouldn't have said it." Damen repeated, judging it safe to take a step closer. It was a wrong move. Laurent shrugged on his jacket. "Where are you going?" Damen asked, rooted in spot by the flinch that the movement concealed.

"Riding." Laurent slipped out of the rooms, clipped voice making it clear company would not be tolerated.

Damen, once a few moments had passed, sighed and ran a hand through his hair in vexation. He may not like the idea of manipulating a child but it was truly not the same as the manipulations the Regent had indulged in. The Regent had manipulated Laurent for his own ends, Laurent manipulated Nicaise in an attempt to guide the boy.

But Damen knew this. It had been a long time since he thought Laurent only capable of acting on his own behalf. It was just that the differences between him and Laurent sometimes seemed insurmountable. Where Damen liked the straightforward road, Laurent preferred to concoct a maze that led to your destination. Both had their uses.

He glanced about the empty room, at the candles positioned neatly around the bed for maximum light and yet far enough away not to be a fire hazard, at the table with a plate of soft cheeses and some of the hearty red wine Damen preferred. He looked at all the details he had missed on entering before, little thoughtful intimacies for a night shared between two lovers. The first proper bed they would share since they started on their journey a week before. All signs of the planning that was characteristic of Laurent although not usually in this context.

He sighed again and pulled on his chiton, pinning it roughly and left the room for his own bed. He doubted he would be a welcome visitor and it was Laurent's room.

It took him an age to fall asleep and it felt like he had only just closed his eyes when he became aware that he wasn't alone.

His eyes snapped open, looking through the room lit only by the faint light of dawn coming through the windows. He relaxed when he caught sight of a familiar gilt head, gleaming silver in the gloom.

"Hello." Damen murmured, voice thick with sleep. Laurent, dressed in only a night shirt, sat on the covers, perched at the edge of the bed like one wrong word would have him disappear into the morning mist.

"You weren't there." Laurent said, then flushed. Damen blinked, trying to engage his brain. "When I returned." Laurent continued, despite the embarrassed hue to his cheeks. Finally Damen realised what he was talking about.

"I wasn't sure if I was welcome." He said, sitting up and letting the covers fall from his chest. Gratifyingly Laurent's eyes followed the descent of the cloth and lingered.

"You are always welcome." Laurent said, baffled, like the thought of dismissing Damen from his bed chamber hadn't occurred. Damen couldn't have stopped the smile that split his cheeks had he wanted to. Those acerbic blue eyes, softened by the gentle light, widened and caught. He reached out and pulled Laurent to him, this time not rebuffed, seeking out his lips. 

Laurent's skin in his arms was cold, especially against his own warmth, and he gripped him closer, tucking them both under the covers.

"How long have you been out riding?" Damen asked, chafing his hands along the smooth expanse of Laurent's milk white skin to encourage the blood to flow.

"Long enough." Which wasn't an answer but Damen didn't press. "We have not shared a bed in over a week and all you want to do is mother me." Laurent observed, freeing up one of his hands to run through the hair on Damen's chest.

"And you want to avoid a conversation." Damen noted, but loosened his grip enough to allow them both more freedom to move.

"What I want is for you to get on with it." Laurent said archly, letting his hand brush teasingly against Damen's arousal.

"No you don't." Damen countered, rolling them over and settling atop Laurent, aligning them and letting his weight rest entirely on that deceptively strong, slender body. He gave into temptation and kissed him again, letting their tongues lazily collide in an imitation of the movements of their bodies lower down.

"But you do." Laurent returned, only slightly breathless, spinning them back. Damen was briefly distracted by one of Laurent's nimble fingered hands and by the time he realised he should have been more focused on the hand he couldn't feel, it was too late.

A slick hand wrapped around him, positioning, before Laurent slid down him, with small movements of his hips, almost torturously slow.

Engulfed in tight heat, focussing to repress the urge to thrust up, Damen had enough of his brain left to voice one question.

"When did you prepare yourself?" He asked, gripping Laurent's waist, feeling the cool skin gradually warm.

"Before." Laurent answered, insufferably put together, only the flush to his cheekbones a hint of their acts. He settled fully, with a final flex of his strong, creamy thighs.

"When before?" Damen gasped out, breathless from the sensation. Laurent frowned at him.

"You are entirely too cognizant." It was almost a complaint. Damen huffed a laugh, Laurent had no right to say such a thing. Deciding he just had to ruffle up some of that composure, Damen sat up, the movement shifting them enough that they were both distracted for a moment. He cupped a cheek, like splintered glass in it's crystalline perfection and just as sharp. Hair, feather fine and soft in his fingers, turning a burnished gold in the light was enough to tilt Laurent's head down to meet his lips once more.

Shallow movements deepened as they lost themselves in the give and take of each others bodies. 

Damen slowly let awareness return to his body as he watched Laurent gently detached them and leave the warm embrace of the bed for a cloth and to regroup. He felt like half his skin had left with Laurent and it took a hazy moment to realise his body was whole and intact.

Laurent returned with water in a goblet for them both. He wiped them both down with brisk efficiency. Damen caught his wrist and gently tugged him in for a brief meeting of lips.

"It will take time for Nicaise to form into his own skin, separate from that of my uncle or that of a pet." Laurent said, after they had parted. Damen gave up on the hope of Laurent returning to the bed.

"And I am willing to give him that time but he can't seek to destroy months of diplomacy on a spiteful whim." Damen said, getting to his feet and stretching, feeling the languorous pull of sex warmed muscles. Laurent, whose gaze seemed somewhat concentrated, nodded slowly.

"No." Laurent agreed. "I am not sure which track to take." He admitted, looking away from Damen.

"Why don't we just talk to him and tell him that further attempts to land us in war will not be tolerated?" Damen suggested. Laurent looked at him.

"Straightforward and simple." Laurent did not sound displeased, more fond. "I was thinking of gifting him with lands in Fortaine."

"As a reward for his behaviour?" Damen asked dryly.

"No, as an income. So he has control of his own expenditure and isn't reliant on staying on my good side for funds." 

And it was an audacious, seemingly absurd idea that Laurent always, inexplicably made work.

"The lands are yours." Damen said and Laurent nodded decisively, heading to the door in just his nightshirt that was barely the length of a short tunic and displayed most of his thighs.

"What are you doing?" Damen asked.

"I need a fresh pair of clothes and since you decided to relocate bedrooms, I did not prepare to spend the night here." Laurent sniffed. Damen, having dressed in a fresh chiton, approached and pulled him in for a kiss, revelling in the fact that the impulsive gesture was accepted.

"You are ridiculous." He said. Laurent arched one cool brow.

"What I said last night-"

"You said many things last night." Laurent said easily, voice light.

"-was out of line. I shouldn't have said it." Damen finished firmly, willing Laurent to believe him. Laurent looked at him for a long moment before slipping out of the rooms to change for the day.

 

#

 

"It is too hot here. Arles is much nicer." Nicaise complained, flopping down onto one of the cushions placed underneath the shade of tree.

"This is nothing. It will be far hotter by midsummer." Nikandros said from his place in the sun, as a page boy passed, handing out cool refreshments. Laurent and Nicaise shared a commiserating look.

"Ios has its charms." Laurent said. Nicaise gave a scoff but otherwise was too hot to voice all the ways in which Ios and its people were deficient. Nikandros was rather pleased, listening to the boys spiteful complaints was never his idea of time well spent.

"How goes your lessons?" Laurent enquired, lazily opening his eyes, propping his head up on one elbow.

"Which ones?" Nicaise responded, looking at Laurent with as much suspicion as he could muster in the heat. 

It wasn't unusual, Nicaise seemed to view everyone suspiciously but none more so than Laurent. It confounded Nikandros that the one person the boy seemed to get along with was also the one he trusted least. He could understand the mistrust, he himself did not have any certainty in Laurent and his ability to twist words and men at will around his finger. But from all accounts Nicaise enjoyed it when Laurent's acidulous tongue was let loose. The child distrusted simple acts of kindness.

"Any of them. Whichever you would like to discuss." Laurent waved a hand. If anything the suspicion deepened.

"What about your sword lessons. I saw you with your trainer once, your form was excellent." Nikandros suggested when it appeared no more conversation was forthcoming. 

"Of course it was." Nicaise scoffed, rolling his eyes. Laurent hid his smirk behind his cup. Nikandros fought to keep his equilibrium. The gambit paid off as Nicaise did start talking about his lessons, if only to disparage every tutor he had.

Damen returned halfway through Nicaise's scathing commentary and simply raised an eyebrow before setting down next to Nikandros in the sun.

"He is insufferably rude about his tutors." Nikandros remarked, in undertone. He knew that Nicaise only received the best teachers, chosen very carefully by both kings, so listening to him ungratefully insulting all of them was aggravating.

"He's having fun." Damen observed, just as quietly, looking at the two Veretians sprawled out in the shade. His gaze caught and it Nikandros' turn to roll his eyes.

Cold, beautiful blondes with finely honed minds and even sharper tongues. Why couldn't Damen have had a type that was warm and friendly? With not a single bit of ambition or cunning. 

He tuned back into the conversation.

"If you are interested in drawing then I shall get another tutor." Damen offered. Nicaise sniffed and ignored him while Laurent looked heavenward.

"I don't need anymore tutors." Nicaise dismissed, brushing a some of the sandy earth off of his shirt. "In fact I-" His voice cracked and shifted down, deepening in the way of youths when their voice was changing. The boys mouth snapped shut and his face paled to a sickly ashen.

"Well if you don't want a drawing instructor then that is up to you." Laurent shrugged, only the sharpness of his eyes belying his indolent posture. Nicaise swallowed, eyes wide and frightened.

Nikandros frowned, there was something happening here, a tension growing. Damen, whose eyes were flicking between the two shaded figures, seemed to have also picked up on the difference.

"Although having another tutor to torment would-" Laurent went quiet when Nicaise got to his feet and left, darting away, heading back to the palace. Nikandros got to his feet uncertainly, all three of them watched the fleeing boy.

"What spooked him?" Damen asked. Laurent sat up, all looseness of limbs gone.

"He was my uncle's pet." Laurent began quietly. "He would only have stayed my uncle's pet while he was still a child."

Nikandros felt his lips curl down in a grimace of disgust. The very idea of bedding a child was abhorrent. 

"The Regent is dead." Damen said simply. Laurent looked at him for a second, incredulously.

"Yes." He agreed. "But Nicaise spent three years living in fear of growing up and loosing his stable position. And that fear of his body's betrayal will not leave just because my uncle is dead. It is too ingrained." 

"Should one of us go after him?" Nikandros asked, still standing and ready to head off if necessary. Laurent blinked.

"No. That would just spook him further." 

"If he isn't at dinner we will search." Damen suggested and Nikandros settled back down, the easy atmosphere of before gone.

Nicaise wasn't at dinner. 

Laurent and Damen made eyes at each other over the table and fleeting touches here and there which made it wholly predictable when they left the table early, leaving everybody aware of where they were going and what was about to occur.

So Nikandros was quite surprised to have a guard inform him that his presence was needed by the gardens.

Damen and Laurent were waiting, any and all signs of amorous intent gone.

A ruse then, he was getting used to them with Laurent around. And it was definitely easier to escape early when the rest of the court assumed you wanted some privacy for bed sport.

"Nicaise still hasn't turned up." Damen informed him quietly. "We are going to do a discrete search before alerting the guards."

"Why not alert them now?" Nikandros enquired.

"We don't want to scare him." Damen answered in such a way that Nikandros knew it wasn't the whole truth. 

"Have you checked his chambers?" Nikandros asked.

"That was the first place we went." Damen assured him.

"That room has more hiding places than a maze and Nicaise is a small boy." Nikandros pressed. He knew how easy it was to dismiss a potential hiding place just because you yourself could not fit into it. His nieces were far too good at hiding where they shouldn't.

Laurent and Damen shared a glance.

"One more look can't hurt." Damen shrugged.

"It is one of the more likely places for him to have gone." Laurent agreed.

"If he isn't there then Nikandros, take the West wing and the orchard. Laurent, the South wing and the flower gardens. While I'll take the East wing and the kitchen's herb gardens. The North wing is busy at the moment with the feast so we'll check there last." 

Nikandros nodded.

They made their way swiftly to the set of rooms that Nicaise used. They were usually for visiting royals, in a whole other wing from the King and Queen's suites that Damen and Laurent occupied.

He wasn't there.

They searched through their areas as the night drags on and still find no trace of the boy.

"How do we know he hasn't taken a horse and fled?" Nikandros asked, hoping it wasn't the case. If the boy had then he had a good days head start on them.

They dashed off to the stables, Laurent in the lead, to check the number of horses. All accounted for, thankfully.

Nikandros and Damen turned to leave and alert the guards but Laurent moved over to the corner, frowning at the large wooden beam.

He ran his eyes over the structure for a moment before agilely climbing up the wall, using the natural handholds from the stall.

And there, in the corner, tucked almost entirely out of view by the solid wooden beams, was a small booted foot.

Laurent confidently walked across the beams as though he was on the ground, not a narrow strip of wood with a good drop below. Sometimes Nikandros wondered if Laurent had enough human in him to feel things like fear. Why else would he throw himself in front of a sword wielded by an enraged Damen? Why else would he practically challenge soldiers out looking for him to search them? Is it fearlessness or madness?

A foot or so away from the boy and Laurent stopped and crouched on the beam.

"Nicaise." He called softly. Nikandros moved beneath the beam just in case the boy decided to take a tumble. Fright can do horrendous things to a man's mind. Let alone an adolescent.

"Go away." Was the quiet, far from snappish reply.

"No." Laurent answered simply.

"Go away." Nicaise repeated, louder and firmer.

"No."

"Why won't you just go away?" It was both a whine and a plea.

"Because it is cold and night is falling." Laurent answered in such a way that it wasn't an answer at all. They stayed, silent and still for a few minutes. Enough for Nikandros to wonder if he should say something. 

"Will you come down?" Laurent asked.

"No."

"Fine." Laurent shrugged and settled so he was sitting on the beam, legs swinging over the edge.

Eventually Nicaise broke the silence.

"Why did you take me with you, when you left Arles?" Nicaise asked out of nowhere. Laurent blinked, the only visible sign of his surprise at the turn.

"Because you had only a few months left with the regent if you were lucky." 

"That isn't it."

"Because..." Laurent trailed off, thinking. "Because I like you." He said simply.

The answer seemed to stump Nicaise.

"Well, I don't like you." Nicaise sniffed, sounding at least somewhat more like his usual abrasive self. For once Nikandros was almost pleased to hear that disrespectful tone.

"That is fair enough." Laurent sounded amused.

"Do you know what the Regent used to tell me?" Nicaise asked. Laurent stiffened, honing in on the new conversation thread. Nikandros had likened the King of Vere to a hunting cat in his mind before but never had it seemed so apt. Panthers watched and waited before striking, keeping to the shadows and waiting with infinite patience, letting the unwary approach the danger by themselves.

"No." 

"Every so often he would say it, dissatisfaction in his eyes." Nicaise moved, the foot that poked out retreating. "He told me, no matter how hard I tried, I was never as good as you."

Nikandros' eyes widened and he glanced at Damen who was staring at the rafters with a pained look.

"He lied a lot, you know." Laurent said, breaking the awful, thick silence.

"I'm not stupid. I _know_ I'm better than you." Nicaise scoffed. Laurent laughed.

"Come down. You will roll off the beam if you sleep there." Laurent said, getting to his feet and swinging himself down to the ground. Grudgingly Nicaise followed, making his own way down that was no less graceful.

**Author's Note:**

> And Nicaise grows up and becomes a fine courtier, using his wit and charm to become one of the finest of King Laurent and King Damianos' ambassadors. 
> 
> While it isn't a happy ending, it is a content one. Mostly. Sort of.
> 
> Laurent will always find Nicaise a brat and like him for that reason. Damen will despair over their banter matches and hope they never turn on him.
> 
> Nikandros rolls his eyes. Constantly.


End file.
